Ambassador Says 23 Jordanians Arrested in U.S. Anti-Terror Dragnet
AMMAN, Dec. 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. authorities have detained 23 Jordanians for questioning since the September 11 deadly attacks, Jordan's ambassador to Washington said in a newspaper report published Tuesday.
Marwan Muasher, doubting their involvement in the attacks, told the Jordanian daily newspaper,
Al-Rai, that most of those detained were students held in connection with immigration laws.
"We have not received any proof so far from the U.S. administration of the implication of the Jordanians arrested in the September 11 attacks," the ambassador said.
At the start of November, Muasher said at least 10 Jordanians had been rounded up, including university student Osama Awadallah, 21, who has been charged with perjury.
Awadallah was being questioned for his alleged links to one of the suspected hijackers of the airliner that crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington, according to Jordanian newspapers.
Muasher said Awadallah denied knowing the suspected hijacker.
Muasher confirmed the Jordanian embassy is continuing its efforts to release the arrested students,
Al-Rai reported Tuesday.
United States authorities have imposed a press blackout on the detention campaigns and have strictly applied immigration laws in the past two months, the paper added.
More than 100,000 Jordanians live in the United States, according to official Jordanian estimates. Two were killed in the destruction of New York's World Trade Center.
Hundreds of Arabs and Muslims have been detained without charge since the September attacks, some of them U.S. citizens.
